Even legal battles can't keep Tark the Shark Tarkanian out of the premier tournament of the college game

In college basketball, March is not the month of lions or lambs, but of sharks. For the ninth consecutive year, coach Jerry ("Tark the Shark") Tarkanian has led his University of Nevada at Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels squad into the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament. UNLV, which compiled a crushing 30-0 regular-season record, was the pretourney favorite to win its second-straight national championship.

But that attainment, if it happens, may be almost irrelevant. The major surprise was that UNLV could actually show up. For 17 years, Tarkanian has been involved with numerous NCAA investigations for rules violations that range...